Patent GB-1218592-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to the moulding of pellets
Inventor: BARKER ALFRED WALTER
IPC: A23G3/02
Filed: 1968-04-05
Abstract: 1,218,592. Rolling confectionery. SANDALL PRECISION CO. Ltd. 20 May, 1969 [5 April, 1968], No. 16645/68. Heading B5A. In a device for rolling a sheet of confectionery e.g. " high boiled " or dehydrated glucose, and at least partially dividing it through the thickness thereof whereby pellets may be formed, and comprising at least three sequential roller pairs of which each pair comprises a fixed roller 11, 12, 13, or 14, towards which a movable roller 21, 22, 23 or 24 is urged by fluid pressure means 34, the penultimate and ultimate fixed rollers 13, 14 are respectively provided with circumferential and paraxial sheet dividing ribs and a predetermined spacing is maintained between the rollers of each roll pair by valve means controlling the fluid pressure means 34 and responsive to the position of the movable roll. The fluid pressure means 34 comprises a double-acting hydraulic jack which acts on each bearing block 30 of the movable rollers 21-24, each jack being supplied with hydraulic fluid at constant pressure and each bearing block having an arm 50 with an adjustable stop 57 thereon which displaces a shuttle 51 of the valve means whereby pressure fluid is exhausted from one and supplied to the other of the cylinders to maintain the predetermined spacing of each roll pair. The body 52 of each valve means is slidingly supported within a bracket 53 fixed to the machine frame and is urged by spring means (60, 61), Fig. 4 (not shown), against a cam 54, a plurality whereof are provided on an adjustable shaft 55 on each side of the apparatus whereby, in addition to adjustment by the stop 57, the spacing of each roll pair may simultaneously be adjusted. It is stated that the movable rollers could alternatively be uppermost when they are supported by springs against the downwardly urging fluid pressure means. The roller pairs are arranged with their nips aligned with a downwardly sloping table over which the sheet moves between successive roll pairs. Each roller is hollow and provided with inlet and outlet connections e.g. 15 and 16, for steam or cold water controlled via a thermocouple in each roller (not shown) connecting to an indicating temperature controller 76 or 77. Each roller is lubricated by a device e.g. 17 or 27, comprising a train of contiguous rolls, and each roller 11, 12, 13 and 14 is provided with a trip bar; the displacement whereof by material adhering to a roller acts to arrest the machine. The rollers of a roller pair are drivingly interconnected to run at the same speed by pinion gears, the rollers 11 and 12 being driven by a motor and speed reducing unit, via a pinion gear connection whereby the rollers 12 and 22 are driven at a higher speed than rollers 11 and 21, and the roller pairs 13, 23 and 14, 24 being similarly driven. The partially divided sheet is conveyed by an upwardly inclined belt 4 through a tunnel cooled by an air fan 7 wherefrom it is deposited into a rotated polygonal cross-section drum, of adjustable inclination to the horizontal, comprising sieve panels extending between ribs which project into the drum to ensure tumbling of the sheet whereby it is broken into the pellets which discharge from the lower end of the drum, material passing through the sieve walls falling on to a conveyer belt.